Proto-Indo-European pronouns


Proto-Indo-European pronouns have been reconstructed by modern linguists, based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages. This article lists and discusses the hypothesised forms.
Proto-Indo-European pronouns, especially demonstrative pronouns, are difficult to reconstruct because of their variety in later languages.

Grammatical categories

PIE pronouns inflected for case and number, and partly for gender. For more information on these categories, see the article on Proto-Indo-European nominals.

Personal pronouns

PIE had personal pronouns in the first and second person, but not the third person, where demonstratives were used instead. They were inflected for case and number, but not for gender. The personal pronouns had their own unique forms and endings, and some had two distinct stems; this is most obvious in the first person singular, where the two stems are still preserved, as for instance in English I and me. There were also two varieties for the accusative, genitive and dative cases, a stressed and an enclitic form. Many of the special pronominal endings were later borrowed as nominal endings.
The following tables give the paradigms as reconstructed by Beekes and by Sihler.
Other reconstructions typically differ only slightly from Beekes and Sihler.

Demonstrative pronouns

As for demonstratives, Beekes tentatively reconstructs a system with only two pronouns: "this, that" and "the ". He gives the following paradigms:
Beekes also postulates three adverbial particles, from which demonstratives were constructed in various later languages:
A third-person reflexive pronoun, parallel to the first and second person singular personal pronouns, also existed, though it lacked a nominative form:

Relative pronoun

PIE had a relative pronoun with the stem.

Interrogative/indefinite pronoun

There was also a pronoun with the stem used both as an interrogative and an indefinite pronoun.

Pronominal adjectives

Proto-Indo-European possessed few adjectives that had a distinct set of endings, identical to those of the demonstrative pronoun above but differing from those of regular adjectives. They included at least "other, another".

Reflexes

, or descendants of the PIE reconstructed forms in its daughter languages, include the following.
TypeReconstructionReflexes
1st sg. nom.Hitt. ūk, Ved. ahám, Av. azəm, Gk. ἐγω, Lat. ego, Goth. ik,
Eng. I, Gm. ich, Du. ik, Bulg. аз\az, Russ. я\ja,
Kamviri õc, Carian uk, Osset. æz/æz, Umb. eho, ON ek, Lith. aš, Venet. ego
1st sg. obliqueVed. mām, Av. mąm, Gk. ἐμέ, Lat. mē,
Eng. mec/me, Gm. mih/mich, Du. mij,
Osset./Pers. mæn, Umb. mehe, Ir. mé, Welsh mi, Russ. mne, Alb. mua, Venet. mego
1st pl. nom.Hitt. wēš, Ved. vayám, Av. vaēm, Goth. wit, weis, Toch. was/wes,
Eng. we, Gm. wir, Du. wij,
Pers. vayam/?, ON vér, Lith. vedu
1st pl. obliqueHitt. anzāš, Gk. νώ, Lat. nōs, Goth. uns, Toch. ñäś,
Gm. uns, Eng. us, Du. ons,
Skr. nas, Av. nō, Pers. amaxām/?, ON oss, okkr, Old Ir. ni, Welsh ni, OPruss. noūson, Lith. nuodu, Pol., Russ. nas, Alb. ne
2nd sg.Hitt. tuk, Ved. tvám, Av. tū, Gk. σύ, Doric τύ, Lat. tū, Goth. þu, Toch. tu/tuwe, OCS ty
Gm. du, Eng. thou,
Pers. tuva/to, Osset. dy, Kashmiri tsū', Kamviri tü, Umb. tu, tui, Osc. tuvai, ON þú, Ir. tú/thú, Welsh ti, Arm. tu/du, OPruss. toū, Pol. ty, Russ. ty, Lith. tu, Ltv. tu, Alb. ti
2nd pl. nom.Ved. yūyám, Av. yūš, Gk. ὑμεῖς, Goth. jūs, Toch. yas/yes,
Eng. gē/ye; ēow/you, Gm. ir/ihr, Du. jij / gij,
ON ykkr, yðr, Arm. dzez/dzez/cez, OPruss. ioūs, Lith. jūs, Ltv. jūs, Alb. juve, ju
2nd pl. obliqueLat. vōs,
Skr. vas, Av. vō, Umb. uestra, OPruss. wans, Pol. wy, was, Russ. vy, vas, Alb. u
Demonstrative Ved. sá, sā, tád, Av. hō, hā, tat̰, Gk. ὁ, ἡ, τό, Goth. sa, so, þata, Icel. sá, sú, það, TochB. se, sā, te
Old Eng. se, seo, thæt, Russ. tot, ta, to
Demonstrative Ved. ay-ám, id-ám, Av. īm "him", Lat. is, ea, id, Alb. aì, ajò, Goth. is "he"
Skr. it
Demonstrative / adverbial particleLat. cis, Eng. he, Gm. heute "on this day, today", OCS sĭ, Lith. šìs,
ON hér, Goth. hita, Eng. it, Gm. hier, Russ. sije
ReflexiveVed. sva-yám, Av. xᵛāi, Gk. ἑ-, Lat. sē, sibi, suus, Old Ir. fa, Ir. féin, OCS sę,
Gm. sih/sich, sin/sein, Du. zich, zijn
Carian sfes, Lyd. śfa-, Osc. sífeí, Umb. seso, ON sik, sinn, Goth. sik, Arm. ink῾s, OPruss. sien, sin, Lith. savo, Latv. sevi, Russ. sebe, -sja, Alb. vetë, u, Phryg. ve
RelativeVed. yá-, Av. ya-, Gk. ὅ-, Proto-Celtic *yo-
Interrogative pronounHitt. kuiš, Luw. kuiš, Gk. τίς, Lat. quis, quid, Ir. cia, Eng. hwī/–, OCS čĭto
Lyc. tike, Lyd. qi-, Osset. či, Pers. čiy/ki, Osc. pisi, Umb. púí, svepis, ON hverr, Welsh pwi, Russ. kto, čto, Alb. çë
Interrogative adjectiveVed. kás, Av. kō, Gk. ποῦ "where?", pōs "somehow", Goth. ƕas, Lith. kàs, OCS kŭto
Eng. hwā/who; hwæt/what, Gm. hwër/wer, Du. wie / wat,
Carian kuo, Kashmiri kus, Kamviri kâča, Lat. qui, quae, quod; Arm. ov, inč῾, Toch. kus/kŭse, Ltv. kas, Pol. kto, Russ. kto, Alb. ku, kush, Phryg. kos
"other"Gk. ἄλλος, Lat. alius, Goth. aljis, Ir. ail/eile, Toch. ālak/alyek,
Gm. eli-lenti "in another land, expelled" / elend "miserable, wretched", Eng. elles/else,
Lyd. aλaś, Skr. araṇa, Osc. allo, ON elligar, Gaul. alla, Arm. ayl

In the following languages, two reflexes separated by a slash mean: